1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video display monitor apparatus for a computer system, more particularly to a video display monitor apparatus useful for a home computer system to control several home applications and home automation systems.
2. Background Art
There has been a recent trend toward multimedia computers, many modern personal computer systems thus have multimedia boards such as a MPEG board, a TV board, a sound card, and so on. The MPEG or TV board almost has picture-in-picture (PIP) capability, that is, the capability to receive video signals from two different sources and combine them to produce a signal, when displayed, which includes a still picture (i.e., original computer image) in a primary viewing area and a moving picture (i.e., MPEG or TV image) in a secondary viewing area (i.e., a small viewing window) on the same display monitor screen, or conversely, a still picture in a secondary viewing area and a moving picture in a primary viewing area.
Meanwhile, various applications of personal computers have been proposed. The computers have been used for home automation and application systems such as automatic telephone answering systems, home security systems, home theater systems, TV receiver systems, etc. Namely, modern personal computer system functions as a home computer system for the whole family. Thus, it is desirable that the computer be conveniently located in a living room for the family's use.
A typical arrangement for being able to simultaneously display a television signal and an image from a computer on a television receiver is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,259 to Eric D. Romesburg, et al. entitled Data Transfer From An External Computer To A Television Receiver Having Picture-In-Picture Capability.